Demon
King Daimao is a
recent anime
release by Sentai Filmworks. This comedic fantasy series begins by
introducing
a friendly new student named Akuto Sai, a young guy who is entering the
Constant Magic Academy. It's a unique school created specifically for
students
studying and using magic. The first day of class doesn't go exactly as
he
imagined it though. There's a weird looking bird (which is basically
enacting
the same role as the sorting hat found in Harry
Potter) who tells students what their future career will be. Unlike
most of
the other students (who are told they will become exactly what it is
they want
to be) he hears something very different. Akuto is told he will become
the
Demon King (a position that no one would want to proclaim as it strikes
fear
and distrust in the other students). Poor Akuto only wanted to come to
the
school so he could become some kind of priest. Obviously, that is a
rather big
difference!

Imagine
a combination of any anime series featuring a male protagonist
surrounded by a
rather ridiculous high number of women clamoring over said guy as a
romantic
interest and a fantasy favorite such as Harry
Potter (when the school means weird occurrences and freaky
predictions over
our charming lead character). It's definitely an odd mix that won't
appeal to
everyone but it's an intriguing enough setup for a short anime series
such as
this one. The 12 episode length ultimately seems to be both a benefit
and a
detriment to this entertaining if ultimately somewhat underwhelming
series
though.

The
series introduces a large number of scantily clad young women and is
quick to
make them become fully nude. The amount of "fan service" (as anime fans
like to
call it) is huge, and the amount of sexual material featuring full on
nudity is
probably dramatically higher in this series. It's all meant to
stimulate a
young male audience and that is likely the audience which this series
will
appeal to the most. The unfortunate thing is that the romantic and the
dramatic
moments sprinkled throughout the series would be fitting for younger
audiences
and both men and women could probably enjoy the show equally if it
focused more
on the story elements which provoke the most interest. Instead this is
a series
that feels borderline pornographic at times.

Another
issue with the show is that it essentially spends 2/3rds of the
episodes
building up comedic sexual relationships between the characters and on
the zany
situations involving the notion of Akuto becoming the Demon King and
then in
the final set of episodes things change wildly and the focus returns to
the
story and actual plot & character development. This might sound
promising,
but surprisingly the earlier episodes are the more entertaining ones as
they
feature laugh out loud moments and the wide cast of supporting
characters is
interesting and well-established whereas the conclusion seems rushed
and even
forced. The overall enjoyment level of the series can also wildly shift
between
episodes (some are more compelling and better made than others). It
makes it
hard to consider this a series worth a genuine recommendation but there
are
certainly a number of elements that make this worth checking out for
some anime
fans -- it's hilarious at times and has a great premise. It's just too
bad that
the end result is something undeniably mixed and only mildly satisfying.

The
DVD:

Video:

Demon
King Daimao is
presented on DVD in the
original broadcast aspect ratio of 1:85:1 widescreen with anamorphic
enhancement for 16:9 television displays. The show displays a wide
range of
colors (both bright and dark) and the reproduction is strong for most
of the
series but never as vibrant as one might hope. It's a nice release but
one that
show's room for improvement (not only in color saturation but in
clarity as
well). The series is smooth looking on DVD, with clean animation, but
it is
usually a somewhat soft presentation as well.

Audio:

The
series is presented with two Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks with both the
original
Japanese language dub and the English language dub. Viewers should be
pleased
with either audio track as both options are successful at reproducing
the
dynamics of the sound and both sound equally impressive as dubs as
well. The
audio is disappointing without a 5.1 surround sound option though the
actual
options included contain balanced dialogue reproduction, sound effects,
and music.

Extras:

There
are very few extras on this DVD release. The
only inclusions are a set of uncensored production sketches, clean
opening & closing animation, and trailers promoting other
Sentai
Filmworks releases. It's a decidedly
average
selection without much of interest.

Final
Thoughts:

Demon
King Daimao is an
entertaining series for
much of its run but the nature of the series is inconsistent and the
show doesn't
seem to fully know if it wants to be a comedy or an action-packed
fantasy. The
surplus amount of female nudity also limits the audience. Lastly, Harry Potter fans will probably be disappointed
with how much this series borrows elements from that series (even if
both
creations are vastly different in the long run). The PQ/AQ is pleasing
enough but underwhelming and the supplemental features are lackluster. Rent
It.